Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Icon Books (2013), Hardcover
Description
From classic poetry to pop lyrics, from Charles Dickens to Dolly Parton, even from Jesus to James Bond, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase--such as "O Captain! My Captain!" or "To be or not to be"--memorable. In his inimitably entertaining and wonderfully witty style, he takes apart famous phrases and shows how you too can write like Shakespeare or quip like Oscar Wilde. Whether you're aiming to achieve literary immortality or just hoping to deliver the perfect one-liner, The Elements of Eloquence proves that you don't need to have anything important to say--you simply need to say it well. In an age unhealthily obsessed with the power of substance, this is a book that highlights the importance of style.
User reviews
LibraryThing member JonArnold
Forsyth makes a grandiloquent claim for school English language lessons; that they don’t teach the right thing. Instead of teaching the mechanics of English; how the writer achieves their effect, it focuses on what the writer thought and felt (and he illustrates this by querying Blake’s
For a language junkie like me who loves the tricks and effects a master can play with the language this is a marvel; a handbook to hack your own writing processes and seeing how they work. Forsyth’s work would be pointless if his prose was poor but happily it’s not; it’s crisp and clear. While it might occasionally be the equivalent of an old man cursing the kids for not doing things properly it’s also entertainingly done; the point that style is substance is well made. Perhaps, after all, what matters is the way we say things rather than what we say.
It’s something of a chilling thought in many ways.
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sanity). Given Forsyth’s fascination with etymology and the workings of the language it’s a fairly unsurprising position for him to take. To that end this book is a rhetoric handbook which outlines how a selection of the more common rhetorical tricks work; from alliteration to more obscure tricks such as epizeuxis and zeugma. He illustrates all this with examples ranging from Shakespeare to The Beatles and Snoop Dogg and is effusive when their use is effective and cutting when carelessness or inexperience lets them down – indeed he attributes Shakespeare’s mastery of the language to a lot of hard work and learning his linguistic tricks; a very modern viewpoint but one which is careful to dismantle simplistic notions such as Gladwell’s ’10,000 hours of practice’. For a language junkie like me who loves the tricks and effects a master can play with the language this is a marvel; a handbook to hack your own writing processes and seeing how they work. Forsyth’s work would be pointless if his prose was poor but happily it’s not; it’s crisp and clear. While it might occasionally be the equivalent of an old man cursing the kids for not doing things properly it’s also entertainingly done; the point that style is substance is well made. Perhaps, after all, what matters is the way we say things rather than what we say.
It’s something of a chilling thought in many ways.
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LibraryThing member Neftzger
As a writer, I’m interested in the technical information in the book - how some of the best authors in history utilized these building blocks called the figures of rhetoric in their craft. He doesn’t explain every figure in existence — just some of the ones more commonly used. What’s great
Aside from the fascinating content, what makes this book unique is the engaging manner in which it’s written. Forsyth makes learning about the figures of speech fun and entertaining. He cracks jokes and doesn’t take himself or the language too seriously.
If you’re a word nerd, purveyor of prose, or literature lover, such as myself, then you should check out this book. Note: I just used several of the elements of rhetoric in that last sentence, but I won’t tell you which ones or how many. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to figure it out!
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about this book is how the author provides specific examples from classic literature.Aside from the fascinating content, what makes this book unique is the engaging manner in which it’s written. Forsyth makes learning about the figures of speech fun and entertaining. He cracks jokes and doesn’t take himself or the language too seriously.
If you’re a word nerd, purveyor of prose, or literature lover, such as myself, then you should check out this book. Note: I just used several of the elements of rhetoric in that last sentence, but I won’t tell you which ones or how many. You’ll have to read the book for yourself to figure it out!
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LibraryThing member Ridhe
A witty delivery of language devices one may not have known but used a thousand times. With humorous analogies to explain each device, it will probably be the most entertaining english lesson you'll ever have. A well written and entertaining book.
LibraryThing member Ms_Kasia
Witty, wonderful and well worth a read.
LibraryThing member Lukerik
I was doing an English Access course and our teacher had briefly covered rhetoric with us when this was published - at just the right moment as it's an excellent introduction to the subject. I would have read it eventually anyway as I've read Forsyth's two previous books. They're both excellent
I now cannot even read a Stephen King novel without noticing the lists of three.
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too. Here he's as entertaining as ever. I like the joke about what will kill the cat in the future. I now cannot even read a Stephen King novel without noticing the lists of three.
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LibraryThing member datrappert
This is a mostly fascinating journey through a myriad of little tricks (e.g., rhetorical techniques) of how to create language that is memorable. The author uses a huge range of examples, ranging from popular culture to the classics. Many of the quotes are very familiar, but it is interesting to
The book covers over 30 types of rhetorical techniques, but other than a few, such as alliteration or assonance, their names are semi-unpronouncable Greek-derived terms you have probably never seen before and will certainly not remember. Honesty, a poster would be helpful. I could see hanging one over my desk that i could turn to if I were looking for an idea to spice up or improve something I was writing.
Because there are so many techniques, and many of them are hard to tell apart (as the author admits near the end of the book), it grows tedious after a while. Most of the best stuff is toward the front of the volume. Forsyth's favorite author is clearly Shakespeare, who is quoted throughout, and he makes interesting observations about how Shakespeare's language changed over time and about how Shakespeare repeated (and usually improved upon) certain techniques.
Another fascinating subject Forsyth discusses is the order of adjectives. In English, there is a very strict order we must follow. It is a big, blue ball--never a blue, big ball. Forty fierce British soldiers--not British fierce forty soldiers. The order is opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose-Noun. This seems to be hard-wired in our brains, since we were certainly never taught this in school, yet we use it unconsciously every day. This is the type of revelation that makes this book rewarding.
Some reviewers have found the author to be a bit smug, and I can sympathize. He can never resist a jab, such as calling William Blake a "nutjob". His deep well of knowledge also is a bit incomplete on occasion. He correctly points out the fallacy of numerology, given that different cultures have different lucky and unlucky numbers, but he doesn't seem to understand that in the case of the Chinese, how these numbers were arrived at hasn't been lost in the dim, distant past, but stems simply from their resemblance to other words with identical sounds--thus 8 sounds like prosperity and 4 sounds like death.
So, overall, for anyone interested in language this is probably a must read. But I was happy to see it end, and I'm not sure I'm ready to progress immediately into Forsyth's other works on language, which seem on the surface to be equally fascinating. but I probably won't be able to put it off forever...
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look at them under the microscope. As Forsyth points out, some of them don't even make sense taken literally, but the turn of phrase is so good, our senses and intellect just pass right over it. In other cases, phrases that made sense in their original form have mutated to shortened versions, such as "A miss is as good as a mile", where we understand the meaning, even though grammatically it is clearly missing a few words.The book covers over 30 types of rhetorical techniques, but other than a few, such as alliteration or assonance, their names are semi-unpronouncable Greek-derived terms you have probably never seen before and will certainly not remember. Honesty, a poster would be helpful. I could see hanging one over my desk that i could turn to if I were looking for an idea to spice up or improve something I was writing.
Because there are so many techniques, and many of them are hard to tell apart (as the author admits near the end of the book), it grows tedious after a while. Most of the best stuff is toward the front of the volume. Forsyth's favorite author is clearly Shakespeare, who is quoted throughout, and he makes interesting observations about how Shakespeare's language changed over time and about how Shakespeare repeated (and usually improved upon) certain techniques.
Another fascinating subject Forsyth discusses is the order of adjectives. In English, there is a very strict order we must follow. It is a big, blue ball--never a blue, big ball. Forty fierce British soldiers--not British fierce forty soldiers. The order is opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose-Noun. This seems to be hard-wired in our brains, since we were certainly never taught this in school, yet we use it unconsciously every day. This is the type of revelation that makes this book rewarding.
Some reviewers have found the author to be a bit smug, and I can sympathize. He can never resist a jab, such as calling William Blake a "nutjob". His deep well of knowledge also is a bit incomplete on occasion. He correctly points out the fallacy of numerology, given that different cultures have different lucky and unlucky numbers, but he doesn't seem to understand that in the case of the Chinese, how these numbers were arrived at hasn't been lost in the dim, distant past, but stems simply from their resemblance to other words with identical sounds--thus 8 sounds like prosperity and 4 sounds like death.
So, overall, for anyone interested in language this is probably a must read. But I was happy to see it end, and I'm not sure I'm ready to progress immediately into Forsyth's other works on language, which seem on the surface to be equally fascinating. but I probably won't be able to put it off forever...
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LibraryThing member kaulsu
What a great book! Not something to read cover-to-cover, but something to pick up with regular periodicity and savor. Perfect for a writer's or editor's reference shelf.
I've made anki-app cards (electronic flash cards?) for each of the categories, Forsyth gives myriad examples, often well known
Alliteration, polyptoton, antithesis, merism, blazon, synaesthesia, aposiopesis, hyberbaton, andiplosis, periodic sentences, hypotaxis, parataxis, polysyndeton, asyndeton, diacope, hendiadys, epistrophe, tricolon, epizeuxis. syllepsis, isocolon, enallage, zeugma, paradox, chiasmus...and etc., and so forth and so on.
I've made anki-app cards (electronic flash cards?) for each of the categories, Forsyth gives myriad examples, often well known
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ones, and sometimes more obscure (subject to future reading, perhaps?).Alliteration, polyptoton, antithesis, merism, blazon, synaesthesia, aposiopesis, hyberbaton, andiplosis, periodic sentences, hypotaxis, parataxis, polysyndeton, asyndeton, diacope, hendiadys, epistrophe, tricolon, epizeuxis. syllepsis, isocolon, enallage, zeugma, paradox, chiasmus...and etc., and so forth and so on.
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LibraryThing member Razinha
What a delightful book! Forsyth dove (dived?) deep into the obscurities of rhetoric to enlighten this reader on the many many technical terms for the phrases, forms, devices, maneuvers (okay...I channeled Eddie Izzard on that one), figures, terms, etc. When he opened withEnglish teaching at school
Packed with information, wonderfully expounded, reinforced with classic examples and peppered saltily with wit, this is a great resource. Forsyth says "This isn't a dictionary of rhetoric, nor was it meant to be." and yes, it is much more than a dictionary. And I don't know what the term would be, or of there even is one, for the opposite of cliffhanger, but Forsyth mastered it, ending each chapter with a tie to the next chapter. He even hyperlinked the last word (okay, word and number) back to the first chapter! Circular!
Recommended.
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is, unfortunately, obsessed with what a poet thought, as though that were of any interest to anyone. Rather than being taught about how a poem is phrased, schoolchildren are asked to write essays on what William Blake thought about the Tiger; despite the fact that William Blake was a nutjob whose opinions, in a civilised society, would be of no interest to anybody apart from his parole officer. A poet is not somebody who has great thoughts. That is the menial duty of the philosopher. A poet is somebody who expresses his thoughts, however commonplace they may be, exquisitely. That is the one and only difference between the poet and everybody else.he got my attention!Packed with information, wonderfully expounded, reinforced with classic examples and peppered saltily with wit, this is a great resource. Forsyth says "This isn't a dictionary of rhetoric, nor was it meant to be." and yes, it is much more than a dictionary. And I don't know what the term would be, or of there even is one, for the opposite of cliffhanger, but Forsyth mastered it, ending each chapter with a tie to the next chapter. He even hyperlinked the last word (okay, word and number) back to the first chapter! Circular!
Recommended.
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LibraryThing member Rex_Lui
A boring, uninteresting attempt to introduce rhetorical devices. it would be more accurate to name the book "How Shakespeare used rhetorical devices." Why folks keep writing books that we could easily get the messenges from Wikipedia?
LibraryThing member Kindleifier
Dental hilarity
I bought this without hesitation as soon as I saw it was written by the author of the Etimologicon. Started reading it whilst I was sitting in the dentist's waiting room and couldn't help laughing like a loon. Love it!
I bought this without hesitation as soon as I saw it was written by the author of the Etimologicon. Started reading it whilst I was sitting in the dentist's waiting room and couldn't help laughing like a loon. Love it!
LibraryThing member PDCRead
Have you always wanted to write like Shakespeare? Or is reaching literary immortality your thing? If you have nothing of any note to say, but still want to have maximum effect in your prose then you need to learn the finer arts of rhetoric. In this expose of the one liner, Mark Forsythe details the
I have read and loved the The Etymologicon and The Horologicon before so was really looking forward to this, and mostly it didn’t disappoint. I liked the way he expanded the 39 elements of rhetoric, moving neatly onto the next from the previous chapter. And it is very readable too, he has a knack of explaining things with the barest hint of wit and using examples that bring a smile to your face. Well worth reading, even if you haven’t got a degree in English!
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way to write that will give you much more style than you thought possible. Its origins are Greek, who formulated the concepts; these were built on by the Romans, before the baton was handed to the English when they finally got around to their Renaissance. Beginning with the always alluring alliteration, he moves through merism, hyperbaton and diacope before asking some rhetorical questions and considers periodic sentences. It would not be complete without the fourteenth rule, nor elements of paradox or hyperbole…I have read and loved the The Etymologicon and The Horologicon before so was really looking forward to this, and mostly it didn’t disappoint. I liked the way he expanded the 39 elements of rhetoric, moving neatly onto the next from the previous chapter. And it is very readable too, he has a knack of explaining things with the barest hint of wit and using examples that bring a smile to your face. Well worth reading, even if you haven’t got a degree in English!
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LibraryThing member murderbydeath
Did you know that adjectives in the English language have to be listed in a certain order to be correct? Specifically, they need to be ordered opinion-size-age-shape-color-origin-material-purpose. So you can have a beautiful small vintage round cream Italian marble sewing table, but try to
Furthermore, did you know that when you repeat a word with a different vowel it's always in the order of I A O? So you can say "pish-posh!" and you'd sound archaic but understandable, but try saying "posh pish!" and people will think you drank your lunch. Try it with any similar phrase: hip-hop, pitter-patter, jibber-jabber, tip-top, bish-bash-bosh; they all follow the same vowel order.
I knew neither of these and they were just in one chapter (chapter 8 - Hyperbaton). The Elements of Eloquence covers the figures of rhetoric; those rules, for lack of a better word, that make writing memorable, impactful, beautiful or unforgettable. Shakespeare used most of them as did most (all?) of the writers of merit throughout history.
Forsyth devotes one chapter to each of the figures and includes examples from great literature and poetry, great song lyrics and political speeches current and historical. He does it all clearly and with a dry humour that makes even the dullest of the figures interesting to read about. I don't think I've ever learned so much about my own language in all my schooling combined. He even described meters (the writing kind, i.e. iambic pentameter) in a way that not only made sense but I'll remember too. English teachers should use this as a reference, if not an actual text book.
If you have any interest in the English language I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's well-written, entertaining, well-researched, foot-noted and funny. I can't wait to read the other two books he's written that are sitting in my pile.
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rearrange the order of those adjectives and you'll have chaos.Furthermore, did you know that when you repeat a word with a different vowel it's always in the order of I A O? So you can say "pish-posh!" and you'd sound archaic but understandable, but try saying "posh pish!" and people will think you drank your lunch. Try it with any similar phrase: hip-hop, pitter-patter, jibber-jabber, tip-top, bish-bash-bosh; they all follow the same vowel order.
I knew neither of these and they were just in one chapter (chapter 8 - Hyperbaton). The Elements of Eloquence covers the figures of rhetoric; those rules, for lack of a better word, that make writing memorable, impactful, beautiful or unforgettable. Shakespeare used most of them as did most (all?) of the writers of merit throughout history.
Forsyth devotes one chapter to each of the figures and includes examples from great literature and poetry, great song lyrics and political speeches current and historical. He does it all clearly and with a dry humour that makes even the dullest of the figures interesting to read about. I don't think I've ever learned so much about my own language in all my schooling combined. He even described meters (the writing kind, i.e. iambic pentameter) in a way that not only made sense but I'll remember too. English teachers should use this as a reference, if not an actual text book.
If you have any interest in the English language I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's well-written, entertaining, well-researched, foot-noted and funny. I can't wait to read the other two books he's written that are sitting in my pile.
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LibraryThing member Kanarthi
Lightweight but enjoyable romp through rhetorical devices and their usage in English poetry and prose.
LibraryThing member booktsunami
What a charming, clever, erudite, exposition. I loved it. Don't ask me to recite the extensive list of greek names for forms of written English: Polyptoton, Merism, Synaesthesia, Hypotaxis and Parataxis, Hendiadys along with slightly more familiar....Rhetorical questions, and Alliteration...and on
"And people will tell you that Shakespeare was inspired. He practised. Each one [personification] has a person, a visible person, leap into existence, to be glimpsed, and vanish." And the examples: "Close-tongued treason", "Pale-faced fear", "The silver-hand of peace", "The iron tongue of midnight".
As one of the reviewers on the back cover comments" "He [Forsyth] also writes beautifully. Here for example...a trifle: " Chiasmus is clever but not natural. Kennedy's inauguration speech could never have been improvised and Mae West, one suspects, took a while to work hers out'....."It's not the men in my life, it's the life in my men".
Along with this beautiful writing style, Forsyth is quick to break nearly all the old grammatical rules that we were taught at school. And uses quotes from various literary masters to illustrate his point. I was also amused by his ability to point out that many of the memorable and much quoted phrases that we all know have been remembered or recited inaccurately; He says that there is absolutely no record of John Major (British PM) ever saying "not inconsiderable" which became his catchphrase nevertheless. And in the Wizard of Oz movie, every child remembers how the Wicked Witch of the West, cries "fly my pretties, fly" ...except that she doesn't. In the film the flying monkeys are instructed to "Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!...and no vocative "my pretties".
Bottom line, I really loved the book and, in fact, I've just bought another book of his; "The Etymologicon". Happy to give the current book five stars.
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and on. Forsyth does make the point in the Eilogue that rhetorical terminology is a catastrophe and a mess. (I guess it's possible to have a catastrophe without it being a mess but it's probably unlikely. so this would be an example of a "pleonasm"). I bought the book because at a quick glance it seemed like it might actually teach one to "turn the perfect English Phrase". But I don't think I've achieved that. In fact, I'm sure that I haven't. But I've certainly learned a lot. Forsyth liberally quotes Shakespeare but is totally unafraid to critique him. And it was illuminating to me to realise that Shakespeare himself, learned on the job. His early plays are hardly ever read or performed because they are just not that good. Poor "King John" is singled out for particular criticism. (Apart from the one good speech). But Forsyth draws his example from right across genres, from the poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge, to the writings of Dickens and G.K. Chesterton, to the movies and to the words of the Beatles songs. He is just so clever and amusing. Take this quote for an example of Hyperbole: Dashiell Hammett describing a private detective. "He was a swarthy little Canadian who stood nearly five foot five in his high heeled shoes, weighed a hundred pounds minus, talked like a Scotchman's telegram, and could have shadowed a drop of salt water from Golden Gate to Hong Kong without ever losing sight of it." And Forsyth's take on that is "That next to their [Americans] mountainous over-statements, an Englishman's languid and effete attempts are subatomically small. "And people will tell you that Shakespeare was inspired. He practised. Each one [personification] has a person, a visible person, leap into existence, to be glimpsed, and vanish." And the examples: "Close-tongued treason", "Pale-faced fear", "The silver-hand of peace", "The iron tongue of midnight".
As one of the reviewers on the back cover comments" "He [Forsyth] also writes beautifully. Here for example...a trifle: " Chiasmus is clever but not natural. Kennedy's inauguration speech could never have been improvised and Mae West, one suspects, took a while to work hers out'....."It's not the men in my life, it's the life in my men".
Along with this beautiful writing style, Forsyth is quick to break nearly all the old grammatical rules that we were taught at school. And uses quotes from various literary masters to illustrate his point. I was also amused by his ability to point out that many of the memorable and much quoted phrases that we all know have been remembered or recited inaccurately; He says that there is absolutely no record of John Major (British PM) ever saying "not inconsiderable" which became his catchphrase nevertheless. And in the Wizard of Oz movie, every child remembers how the Wicked Witch of the West, cries "fly my pretties, fly" ...except that she doesn't. In the film the flying monkeys are instructed to "Fly! Fly! Fly! Fly!...and no vocative "my pretties".
Bottom line, I really loved the book and, in fact, I've just bought another book of his; "The Etymologicon". Happy to give the current book five stars.
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LibraryThing member jwhenderson
A fun dictionary of expressions and their applications. This book will help you gain a better understanding of the various applications of the English language while also being entertaining.
Language
Original publication date
2013
Physical description
8.27 inches
ISBN
1848316216 / 9781848316218
Local notes
From classic poetry to pop lyrics and from the King James Bible to advertising slogans, Mark Forsyth explains the secrets that make a phrase - such as 'Tiger, Tiger, burning bright', or 'To be or not to be' - memorable.